The Breadth of Ten Heartbeats

Rising out of suffocating
granite walls
I reach a precipice
and face a curving ladder
extended into space
no beginning, no end
in view.
I freeze:
what is this journey
into space?
A fog erases the
destination,
a haze obscures the
first steps.
I pause,
settle into a breath
the breadth of ten heartbeats
and sing a song
of rejoicing in this
moment
for
all will clear
in time.